For the better part of Kevin Ollie's time as UConn coach, the Huskies have been able to get away with not rebounding well. That doesn't keep Ollie from hammering the point, acting like the parent who gives constant reminders to his children about the importantance of good oral hygiene.

Ollie saw the cavities coming a long time ago. The Huskies didn't necessarily ignore them, but they never seemed overly concerned. Maybe Tuesday night was the push they needed to understand just how important rebounding is to a basketball team.

"It's everything," Ollie said Friday.

Hyperbole aside, the Huskies witnessed the result of having a 20-rebound edge Tuesday night against Temple. They cruised to an easy American Athletic Conference victory against Temple. UConn (15-4, 3-3 AAC) heads to the Rutgers Athletic Center tonight knowing better that a focus on rebounding never hurts and only helps.

Granted, Temple is a team that seems disinterested in playing defense at times. Still, UConn's offensive output tied for the best against the Owls this year and it was mostly because the Huskies hit the backboards hard. They were able to get out and run. They limited Temple's second shots to almost nothing.

They didn't have to figure out a way to win without rebounding. They understood how vital it is to grab rebounds and reaped a nice benefit: an easy win.

"We just need to carry it over," said forward DeAndre Daniels, whose career night of 31 points and 12 rebounds against Temple was something more than happenstance. "Everybody is rebounding. It's a whole team thing. Everybody is coming back and rebounding. Once we do that and get out on the break and play our basketball, that's definitely when we're at our best and we're unstoppable."

Exactly why it took this long for such a light to dawn is anyone's guess. The larger point is that it has dawned.

UConn will receive some help tonight it didn't have Tuesday night. Ryan Boatright will be back in the lineup after a one-game absence to attend his cousin's funeral. Boatright's presence was clearly not necessary against the Owls but it will surely be a welcome sight against the Scarlet Knights.

Rutgers has its issues defensively. The Scarlet Knights allow nearly 75 points per game, a number that is made worse by the fact it shoots just 43 percent overall and 34 percent from 3-point range. While UConn had little trouble scoring against Temple, Boatright makes the Huskies just a bit faster and slightly more frenetic. That will put pressure on the Rutgers defense.

More importantly, it brings UConn's third-leading rebounder into the lineup. If, as Ollie said, rebounding is everything, having Boatright back will only help in that regard.

"Our 6f-oot-1 point guard (Shabazz Napier) is leading me in rebounding," Ollie said. "We don't have the guy that's getting eight to nine rebounds and can bank on that. When we do it as a team - we showed that against UCF, Harvard and Temple - we can rebound with anybody.

"Most importantly, we've got to rebound. They start a very big team and we've got to commit to hit."

That is the latest in Ollie's long line of notable themes. And it may be the most useful of them all. Maybe the Huskies have finally learned that.

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